This writing prompt intrigued me after reading a few other bloggers’ reflections on this subject. It brought me back to the 70’s before my life was pulled into the computer age. The world was further away then.

Any ideas of taking ship cruises or flying to Europe were pretty far-fetched. We took Walter Cronkite’s evening news as the law. We still had Encyclopedia Britannica and Webster’s Dictionary at my grandparents’ to do our homework with. We also had radio at lunchtime in the summer listening to Paul Harvey’s daily “Good Day” sign-off. Three tv channels on good weather days and endless card and domino games. Life was good.

One thing that separated us from many folks then was that we had CB radios in my dad’s pick-up truck with cool handles like dad’s “Wild Bill” and mom’s “Calamity Jane”. I was “Legs”. Don’t get too excited about that one. I am short, pretty average looks and definitely never been model material. Certainly not athletically inclined as I had lots of knee dislocations during the first half of my life and “Legs” sounded way better than “Knees”. I rarely talked on the CB anyway unless my parents were checking up on me while I babysat my little sister. We were miles from the nearest town and that was their monitoring tool. Wonder what family services would say about that nowadays? Certainly wouldn’t be blasted on Facebook or Twitter….”Parents leave teen daughter and younger sister by 6 years home alone.” Who knew they were preparing me for my future career as a childcare provider. Hind sight is 20/20 you know.

When a cousin drops by for a visit to let you know he’s clear-coating his ’69 Ford Pick-up, you might be a bit ‘Optimistic’ about the future of our youth. Just take a look at this leather, custom-made, grill cover.

Even better still, here’s the whole truck.

Seth, you are one of the good ones!

Daddy had one just like it, 3-speed on the column, a heater that was equivalent to a blast furnace, and hauled a few livestock in the pick-up bed here and there. Only difference was it was painted Hunter green. My ‘Hunter’ cousins will appreciate that the most 🙂

Yesterday my eldest, Rachel and I stopped by my mother’s on our way home. We wanted to share the doctor’s latest plan for Rachel after her trip to the ER a couple weeks ago. (More on that later.) Plus it’s always nicer to speak to your mom in person. 🙂 Not to mention, she’s stranded at home in Green Ridge (micro mini small town USA) due to her truck being repaired. Has to be a boring January weekend.

Towards the end of our visit she directed us to her kitchen where she’d put her latest project. She told us she’d recently been attending a Women’s Club in town. My mother is a socialite at heart! She presented her ‘attempt’ as she put it at painting.

She explained they used masking tape and she decided to place hers evenly. This is her result. We told her she needed to frame it. It’s pretty good for her first attempt wouldn’t you say? Choosing her as my Sunday Sampler this week to proclaim….

Like this:

AlphabetAcross the street is a little garden shed built by “Larry”. I decided to use the double Z’s on the doors for my Photo Challenge. I couldn’t find a way (other than getting on my roof) to get this shot without the fence.

A bit about “Larry”…. Vietnam vet, had an injury while there and went many years before (a couple summers ago) he had a knee replacement. He built this shed for his wife’s gardening supplies after a heavy snow collapsed the old metal one. He keeps his yard immaculate and the same with the garden. Thanks to Larry, I had some compost from his farm delivered for free to start my new garden spot. We had a destroyed back yard from adding on to our house. Best year of cucumbers we’ve ever had.

Like this:

Going down memory lane for this week’s photo challenge to a St.Louis Cardinals game in April of 2011. My youngest daughter’s class took a trip to see a game for some sort of incentive award. Can’t remember exactly, but apparently she was in the winner’s circle. Ron and I were able to tag along.

As a long-time fan of “Yadi”, we were snapping a few pics of him at bat.

Even a loyal Royals fan can appreciate the talent of Yadier Molina. He’s on my bucket list for autographs.

My highlight photo for this challenge is the levitating moment of the Atlanta Braves catcher Brian McCann.

I promised a friend from Canada some pictures from our home here in Missouri. It has been in the news this past week with all the flooding. Searching out the circle we call “Sun” in this photo. No flood waters here.

No flooding here either. Just my dream home off in the distance. If only I had a few million dollars.

This is the city of our destination that particular day.The state capitol of Missouri, Jefferson City. (Pardon my unleveled hand)

A view from the vehicle window because it was too cold to get out and walk around while waiting for Ron at the DMV (department of motor vehicles). I kind of like this photo.

I just knew we’d see flooding on the Missouri River crossing the bridge, but nothing was unusual other than a bank full river. Good thing or this bridge crossing probably wouldn’t have been do-able. It heads right into the river bottoms. Not the best place to be during a flood.

To see many pictures of the flooding, I suggest Googling, “2015 Missouri flood pictures” Plenty to see. I am personally glad I didn’t see much.

My prayers and thoughts with all the victims affected by this tragic event.